Nutrition

[workoutgrrl]

I thought I'd take our nutrition questions over here so they didn't get lost in the goals thread.

Here are some questions I've seen and had:

1) How many calories should I be eating?
2) What supplements should women consider?
3) What should my fat/carb/protein intake look like?

I'll go first:

On #1: I know that John had posted that starting out, he suggested eating 10 times your weight in calories. But at 110lbs, 1100 calories is generally a no-no, right? I've heard that you should never eat less than 1200 calories/day. PLUS, I'm not trying to lose weight, so I don't think I should be so few. Right now, I'm eating between 1250 - 1450. Is that right? Anyone have any websites/calculators they recommend?

On #2: I take Glucosamin/Chondrotin (sp?) for my joints. An old minor knee injury from high school. It just seems to make everything move better. I also take a multivitamin (SoloDay). I'm going to add in another Calcium supplement, about 500 mg, because I'm only getting about half of the 1000 mg suggested for women. I don't know anything about whey (I'll go read that website soon). Are there anything else I should be reading?

On #3: My current fat/carb/protein ratio is 20%/60%/20%. I know that John's protein is much higher. I also think that maybe my fat intake shouldn't go to low as a woman, but I don't really know all that much about it. I can't find any websites on this for women. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Are there other questions on nutrient?

I'm so psyched these forums are up. John rocks!

[John Stone]

Hi workoutgrrl,

Sorry it someone so long to respond to your post!

1) I suggested 10-12 times body weight (lbs) in calories as the bare minimum one should be getting while on a fat loss diet. Because you said you are not trying to lose fat, that suggestion is not applicable to you. If you are eating 1250-1450 calories per day and not gaining or losing weight, then that is your maintenance level and appropriate for you if you don't want to lose fat or gain muscle. If you want to gain muscle mass, you should increase your maintenance level by at least several hundred calories per day (clean calories, of course), and maintain a regular schedule of intense weight training.

2) Your supplement intake sounds great to me, but I'm not sure what your goals are. If you are trying to add mass, you might want to look at creatine. I also find glutamine to be very worthwhile. Information on these supplements and why I take them can be found in my [color=#22229c]FAQ[/color], if you are interested.

3) I'm far from an expert on women's health, but I know plenty of women who lift weights and stick to a 40/40/20 diet (or close to it). I know it works for me, and Lisa gets about the same macronutrient balance in her diet. I do think that if you want to build muscle you should increase your protein intake considerably.

Hope this helps!